I was also surprised by the multiple incorrect Hungarian translations. Perhaps that’s why she started having more than just Sisi cocking her head halfway through… Like, enough already! I think my neck hurts from all the cocking it sideways. She used the phrase “cocked her/his head” soooooo many times I lost count and it became so excessive in use that I’d cringe as I approached the end of the book fearing how many more times she would use that phrase. I do enjoy me some R rated monarch bed scenes (cue the series: Tudors). She definitely didn’t venture too far into “bedchamber details.” Sigh. Pataki is a pretty good writer, but perhaps more a historian than a novelist. Who wouldn’t? She was deprived of her own children, her love of the outdoors and riding horses, and even her talent for writing poetry. The poor empress definitely seemed to suffer from depression, anxiety, and an eating disorder. (She would have made a fantastic Rodan + Fields rep if she lived present day cause she was all about keeping wrinkles away by practically bathing herself in lotion.)
Ordering up the finest of dresses and corsets from Paris. Spent hours braiding her hair and refused to cut her insanely long hair–she literally wore it like a permanent crown atop her head. She spent lavishly on creams, oils, and shampoos. Sisi’s extreme care for her hair is at times quite incongruent with how she didn’t want to end up or be like Marie Antoinette.
Sprinkle in lots of typical and crazy monarch style inuendoes and you have yourself quite the royal drama. A husband who was taught to rule and not how to give love. Sisi was tormented by an overbearing mother-in-law. The book reads quite like a romantic, but fairly tragic, love story. Thanks to Pataki’s book I now know sooooo much more about the young woman who became such a beloved icon in Hungary even though she was not of Hungarian descent. From my two visits to Gödöllő Palace all I learned and remembered is that some lady who likes riding horses and was named Elizabeth lived within its walls. But when touring castles I’m more into them from an architectural standpoint versus the people who lived there. It’s quite impressive how little I knew of Sisi considering I’ve even visited two of the castles she resided in: Buda Castle and Gödöllő Palace. And each time I squashed and silenced them–no worries, they lived to complain of my authoritative tyranny. My Hungarian friends, my husband, and my mother all tried to kill the suspense by giving me tidbits of history. Thanks to my wonderful lack of knowledge about the Austro-Hungarian Empire I got to read this book like the ending hasn’t already happened. To those who enjoy history with a medium dose of fiction, yes.
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